298 Chapter 13/Shaping Processes for Plastics

one-step operations (e.g., molding), the amount of product handling required is

substantially reduced compared with metals.
➢ Finishing by painting or plating is not required (except in unusual circumstances)
for plastics.

As discussed in Chapter 8, the two types of plastics are thermoplastics and ther-
mosets. The difference is that thermosets undergo a curing process during heating
and shaping, which causes a permanent chemical change (cross-linking) in their
molecular structure. Once they have been cured, they cannot be melted through
reheating. By contrast, thermoplastics do not cure, and their chemical structure
remains basically unchanged upon reheating even though they transform from solid
to fluid. Of the two types, thermoplastics are by far the more important type com-
mercially, comprising more than 80% of the total plastics tonnage.
Plastic-shaping processes can be classified as follows according to the result-
ing product geometry: (1) continuous extruded products with constant cross sec-
tion other than sheets, films, and filaments; (2) continuous sheets and films; (3)
continuous filaments (fibers); (4) molded parts that are mostly solid; (5) hollow
molded parts with relatively thin walls; (6) discrete parts made of formed sheets
and films; (7) castings; and (8) foamed products. This chapter examines each of
these categories. The most important processes commercially are those associ-
ated with thermoplastics; the two processes of greatest significance are extrusion
and injection molding. A brief history of plastic-shaping processes is presented in
Historical Note 13.1.
Coverage of the plastic-shaping processes begins by examining the properties of
polymer melts, because nearly all of the thermoplastic shaping processes share the
common step of heating the plastic so that it flows.

Historical Note 13.1 Plastic shaping processes

Equipment for shaping plastics evolved largely
from rubber processing technology. Noteworthy
among the early contributors was Edwin Chaffee, an
American who developed a two-roll steam-heated
mill for mixing additives into rubber around 1835
(Section 14.5.2). He was also responsible for a simi-
lar device called a calender, which consists of a series
of heated rolls for coating rubber onto cloth (Section
13.3). Both machines are still used today for plastics
as well as rubbers.
The first extruders, dating from around 1845 in
England, were ram-driven machines for extruding
rubber and coating rubber onto electrical wire. The
trouble with ram-type extruders is that they oper-
ate in an intermittent fashion. An extruder that could
operate continuously, especially for wire and cable
coating, was highly desirable. Although several indi-
viduals worked with varying degrees of success on
a screw-type extruder (Section 13.2.1), Mathew Gray
in England is credited with the invention; his patent
is dated 1879. As thermoplastics were subsequently
developed, these screw extruders, originally designed
for rubber, were adapted. An extrusion machine spe-
cifically designed for thermoplastics was introduced
in 1935.
Injection molding machines for plastics were adap-
tations of equipment designed for metal die casting
(Historical Note 11.2). Around 1872, John Hyatt, an im-
portant figure in the development of plastics (Histori-
cal Note 8.1), patented a molding machine specifically
for plastics. It was a plunger-type machine (Section
13.6.3). The injection molding machine in its modern
form was introduced in 1921, with semiautomatic
controls added in 1937. Ram-type machines were the
standard in the plastic molding industry for many dec-
ades, until the superiority of the reciprocating screw
machine, developed by William Willert in the United
States in 1952, became obvious.

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